Rich Pawlak

I can't wait. The Downingtown store is currently the closest and it's an HOUR drive! Cherry Hill will be 10 minutes from my front door, and until then Mount Laurel isn't too far to go. ← The Wegmans in Lawrenceville is closer. 45 minutes TOPS from your place.

Here is the updated beer menu for FTF, straight from the horse's--er, tavern owner's--mouth: Casks lined up now include: Appalachian Oak Aged Scottish Ale Brewers Art Proletary Ale Flying Fish Hopfish General Lafayette All Fuggled Up Heavyweight Stickenjab Alt Iron Hill Poor Richards Ale John Harvards Alt Lancaster Doppelbock Legacy Alt Middle Ages 10th Anniversary Nodding Head Hoppy Ending Ramstein Pale Ale Rock Art Midnight Madness Smoked Porter Sly Fox Robbie Burn's Scottish Ale Troegs Oatmeal Stout Victory Uncle Teddy's Bitter Weyerbacher Heresy Yards Simcoe-hopped Philadelphia Pale Ale

Holly, you can often find them at Trader Joe's.

I believe the original Coney Island is called Nathan's. (Well, that's not really right. The original was Feltman's who sold franks for a dime; Nathan Handwerker, an employee, went out on his own and priced his dogs at a nickel.) ← The original Coney Island Lunch in Scranton, my hometown, is the original Coney Island Lunch in Scranton. Under the train trestle on Cedar Ave, just below Lackawanna Ave., it is like stepping back in time, with tilework and wooden booths from the 20's, and an old world, cramped feel that is just incomparable. And the dogs, made especially for Coney Island by Gutheinz Meats in Scranton, are short fat tube steaks that are split, grilled and served on special, square Texas Weiner rolls (as they are packaged and called up that way), and topped with homemade mustard (!), chopped onions and chili sauce. As at Abe's in Wilkes-Barre, if you order enough of them at once, the counterman will dress the dogs along his forearm. Quite a sight, if you've never seen it before. Coney Island was a semi-regular stop on my way home from high school, and is a wildly popular place on Saturdays. One of the very last vestiges of the "old Scranton" that my generation and that of my parents and grandparents knew.

Lew Bryson writes a terrific piece about garbage plates in his book, "New York Breweries" Here is his website for an excerpt. The way he writes about the garbage plate, you've just gotta have one.

Ah, life is good. The first of two Friday the Firkinteenth beer festivals is taking place this Friday, January 13, at the Grey Lodge Public House in Philadelphia. Check their website for logistical details Here is the lineup for this time around at the only beer event decided by the vagaries of the calendar: Yards, Philadelphia, PA Heavyweight Stickenjab Alt, Ocean Township, NJ Troegs Oatmeal Stout, harrisburg, PA Magic Hat, South Burlington, VT Flying Fish, Cherry Hill, NJ Iron Hill, West Chester, PA Nodding Head brand new hoppy ale, Philadelphia, PA Sly Fox Robbie Burn's Scottish ale, Phoenixville, PA Lancaster Doppelbock, Lancaster, PA Ramstein Pale Ale, Butller NJ Rock Art, Johnson, VT Middle Ages Dragon Slayer Imperial Stout, Syracuse, NY General Lafayette Fuggled Up, Lafayette Hill, PA Legacy, Reading, PA Weyerbacher Heresy, Easton, PA Victory Uncle Teddy's Bitter, Downingtown, PA Another killer cask ale lineup. The Grey Lodge website says that they will be tapping the casks starting at noon to accomdate the crowds and demand. Jeebus. Worth the drive from anywhere.

I maintain that we need to learn from the lessons and examples of Los Angeles and NYC. Retsaurant patrons adjust and bar patrons choose their vice. When it comes down to it, people will opt for dining and drinking over smoking.

It is quite alive and well at Stock's Bakery in Fishtown/Port Richmond.

I just called over to The Bellevue location of the former Rocco's and it is now called "Ellen's Italian Hoagies", so it may no longer have ANY affiliation to Rocco or Carmen. And that would be a shame. Curious if the quality is different or the styles of sandwiches are different.

I know that Carmen used to make bread crumbs for his chicken cutlet coating from the heels, as well as use them as an accompaniment to his "naked hoagies" (low carb craze hoagies sans bread, of which I used to eat many when I was on Atkins).

i didn't specifically say hello to carmen (assuming he was the guy running the register--middle aged, longish graying hair, very nice, obviously loves the world of hoagies) but i did think of your post yesterday when i was at the terminal and suddenly had the urge for an italian hoagie, so i went over to rocco's and got the special. and you're right, it's a delicious sandwich. if you go, be sure to get the house-roasted sweets and hots on it. the hots especially are worth it, but in general it's much better than the jarred stuff that you usually get on hoagies (and that they also offer if you like that sort of thing). my only reservation is that the sandwiches there might not be as big as some people might expect when they think they're getting a hoagie. i think i could finish one pretty easily, and that's not really a compliment when it comes to hoagies--people think of them as big abundant sandwiches, and rocco's don't qualify as that. i don't want anyone to interpret that in any negative way, though. every ingredient is great, from the rolls from liscio's, to the sharp provolone, to the various meats... and really maybe we wouldn't be the least healthy city in the US like we were a few years ago if hoagies were a little more reasonable in size. damn, i might be about to go on another hoagie binge again. one question rich: what's the deal with rocco's vs. carmen's or whatever, namewise? just an ownership change, like louie's lee's liquor lounge in the dale watson song, or ruth's chris steak house? or something else? ← That's why I always call them "boutique hoagies". I've always imagined that if ever the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton or, more appropriately, the Park Hyatt wanted to serve a hoagie for room service or lunch, they would use a Rocco's/Carmen's hoagie as the template.

Carmen is Rocco's older, wiser brother. Rocco, who had opened several hoagie outposts (The Bellevue, RTM, Ocean City, NJ, some others) was a lousy businessman, and eventually sold the businesses to his older, wiser brother. To my knowledge, only the Bellevue and RTM locations remain. It is fitting that Carmen changed the name, since he's been doing all of the heavy lifting, hard work and quality control for years.

I think one of the most underrecognized merchants at RTM is Rocco's Italian Hoagies. I had the privalege of working with Carmen and his crew at the food court at The Bellevue when I was the marketing/PR director there, and I can say with complete confidence that I have never met anyone as fanatically devoted to the hoagie ouvre as Carmen. His attention to every component of the sandwich is impressive, from the hand inspection of every roll every day, to his obsession with the quality and cleanliness of the romaine lettuce and his careful handling of his meats and cheeses. Dollar for dollar, I've never had a better "boutique hoagie," and, in a city blessed with some iconic hoagie makers, that it impressive. The Special Italian and Chicken Ala Rocco hoagies, to me, rank among the very best sandwiches in the city, hands down. I realize that I have been privy to the details of painstaking work and attention to detail that go into the hoagie process at Rocco's, and that when purchasing a sandwich there it may not be readily apparent, but these guys are on top of their game. I miss the hoegies at Rocco's more than almost any food in Philly. If anyone stops by to test my assertions, please say hello to Carmen for me, as I never seem to get to RTM these days.

Is the PLCB able to get/order any of the fabulous wines from Lewis Vineyards in Napa? Their 2002 Cab Reserve is incredible.

Had my first Sierra Nevada Celebration 2005 last night. Very bright, crisp and with a terrific hop bite. I also thought it had a touch of honeyed sweetness. I need to compare it with some of the 2004 and 2003 SNCAs that I have in the beer fridge Still my faveorite beer of winter, hands down.

For sheer exhuberance and enthusiasm, as well as presentation, Philly Felafel is in a completely different league.

Quite by accident I stopped into the brand spanking new Philly Felafel at 1740 Sansom St., just opened this week. What a great new addition to the dining scene. Run by an Israeli family, it is full of promise. It's a small, spotlessly clean little cafe, with a open kitchen, a counter display of their various offerings, a large refrigerator case of soft drinks, and a small salad bar to one side. Like Charlie's Water Wheel (R.I.P) and Koch's Deli, eager counter workers pass out felafel balls and latkes for nibbling while waiting in line to order. The menu showcases breakfast omelets, burekas, hummus, and various felafel combinations and platters. Everything I sampled was superb. A felafel platter included about a dozen small balls, with a puddle of cucumber sauce in the center of the plate, and four crisp crunchy salads bordering the plate. A basket of thick, puffy pita came alongside, and it was good (they also offered whole wheat pita, but I chose regular). The salad bar includes a really good crunchy cole slaw, a red cabbage salad, fiery hot peppers, green olives, carrots, and roasted cauliflower, all good. Gotta check this place out folks, looks VERY promising.

I was planning on meeting a friend at Johnnie's and could not tell from their web site if it is eat-in or just take-out. If it is eat-in, what is the lunch crowd like? ← Pretty lunchy.

Exactly my thoughts in my previous post. I feel Coney Joe's Italian dog really is better than Casino although I don't know how both you and Holly managed to eat 2 of these things in a row. All this talk here has inspired me to make my own Italian hot dogs. I've roasted red and yellow peppers and fried up some potatoes and onions together with a good Nathans hot dog as Sabrett is not available around here. I put them in a Maiers Italian roll (they come 6 to a bag) which lends itself perfectly for the dog, peppers, onions and potatoes as it is wide and really soft. Just pan fry the inside of the roll over the hot dog and you're home! Rich, did you get a chance to chat with anyone about this ridiculous legal wrangling? ← Mine was a stealth mission for an article. I'm not big on introducing myself anyway.

I finally got to stop by Coney Joe's again the other day, and after all of the discussion here, I had to try the Italian dog. It was magnificent,;well-done, as ordered, topped with a nicely seasoned mix of onions peppers and potatoes. After that quick visit I felt compelled to go to Casino Tony's, so, common sense be damned, I headed for the 'Burg in Trenton. Their Italian dog just didnt stand up, as it was overwhelmed by the plain peppers, onions and potatoes. Not a bad dog, mind you, but just not as good as Coney Joe's.

I was in Los Angeles in 1997, the night before the smoking ban there went into effect. The hue and cry was loud and everyone predicted dire straights for bar owners, restaurateurs, etc. That first day, a Monday, things were quiet at happy hour and in many places, it was reported. I was in LA for about 10 days, and by week's end, life was back to normal, and people chose their vice: drinking and dining won out over smoking. People adjust rather quickly. You'd be amazed.

I had the great good fortune of having lunch there last winter, and it's totally the shizzle, as is Matchbox at 9th and F. Two Amys is arguably the best pizza in DC, the Delorenzos of the District.

Brian O'Reilly is arguably the finest craft brewer in the region. I swear the guy doesnt know how to make a bad beer , and most of his brews are extraordinary. His varietal IPAs are legendary. Nondescript or not, you're missing an exceptional beer experience every day you pass the place.

From today's Trenton Times: Pie Eyed: The Movie It's the movie for us!